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The YCLSA is deeply disgusted and saddened by the unrepentant behaviour of Mduduzi Manana amidst yet another allegation of abuse of a woman. A man who has made it his trade mark to abuse women at will because "he is connected", deserves not our respect. The widespread arrogance of political elites that they can do whatever they want because they are connected and in charge, including violating other people's rights must be condemned without fear or favour.

Today this case of Manana reminds all of us that gender relations are power relations. That the powerful can always use their money to buy themselves out of cases and not be held accountable for their actions. If not pursued further, this case will set a precedence that the powerful can pay to stop justice.

Manana's attempt in justifying his actions is more farcical than anything else. The hypocrisy in the conniving response simply shows a man who is not ready to take responsibility for his actions but will desperately appeal for sympathy as a victim himself of his so called detractors. We are not moved by that explanation that places a vulnerable old woman as an infiltrator in the home of her employment who works with a bigger scheme of a network of detractors. If anything that explanation has exposed what a crisis Manana is and how dangerous he is to himself and society at large.

The Xenophobic remarks on his domestic worker proves that he hired a poor migrant old woman so that he could abuse her knowing very well that he could always use the fact that she is Zimbabwean at any given time, that is why he saw it important to mention her nationality in his statement. This is the reality of many migrant workers especially women with their employers. As an Internationalist organisation, we are interested to know whether the helper of Cde Manana had a work permit and what did Cde Manana do to ensure she gets it to secure her stay in our Country. We also want to know if Cde Manana paid her a minimum wage and more.
 
It is for this reason that the YCLSA calls for the law to take its course despite the intimidating withdrawal of the case. No money or out of court settlements must come in between the law and the unrepentant women abuser by the name of Mduduzi Manana. Beyond the legal route, the YCLSA calls upon the youth to use this as an example of what should happen to women abusers. We call on Cde Manana to resign as an ANC MP and NEC Member and he must seek help urgently for himself. Failure for him to resign we call on the ANC NEC to take action against him and restore the credibility of the NEC which cannot be seen as a place for women beaters.

Issued by YCLSA